I wandered into the Cape Town city centre the other day to capture some old cars and check out the street art in the mild Winter sun. Walking the streets of the Bokaap I came across this Jaguar 420G, a fabulous beast from another time.

As a teenager in the mid 70’s the 420G already seemed to me like it was from a much earlier age. I guess having the brilliant XJ6 sold alongside it was likely to do that.. The 420G was officially sold in South Africa, though only briefly. Looking at the price list in my June 1968 copy of Car magazine [local, not related to UK Car] the largest model on offer was the 420. The Jan ’69 issue had a road test of the 420, and mentions the 420G would become available in limited volume.

By August the 420G was priced at R6895, making it the most expensive car listed in the country. The next most expensive model was the Mercedes Benz 280SE at R5917. The 420 and the 280SE were locally assembled, while the 420G would have been fully imported and been highly taxed accordingly. The 420G exited production in 1970.

Seeing this car in the flesh always elicits a positive response in me. It feels like a statuesque nude from a Rubens walked off the canvas and is standing next to me in the street, it has overwhelming presence. Especially in a country where superminis dominate the sales charts.

This car has sweeping curves and shapely hips, I can’t see a flat plane anywhere. It may not be Sir William Lyon’s finest, but the unity of purpose is there, to be a muscular luxurious shiny big cat.

The same day I dropped by at Crossley and Webb, a wonderful supercar and classic sales room on the opposite side of the city centre, in the East City Precinct, and snapped this Jag XK140’s swoopy rear end. I feel the same sporty DNA is running through both cars, if a bit more lithely here.

This 420G has one big problem living in Cape Town, its size, more specifically it’s width. If you think this is a big roomy city, well, a lot of it isnt! If this Stop road marking, as seen in Woodstock on a previous foray, can’t fit into the lane how is a 420G going to?

Some of our houses are really narrow too.. I hope this house in the Bokaap is going to be refurbished soon.

If you are planning on getting around the city with ease better to get a Mini, as seen here in the East City precinct against an image and words of Nelson Mandela, our former President.

Or, get a bicycle.. This one is ready for work.

Or walk! There are plenty of places to rest, and people are friendly.

I amazed by how the East City Precinct is transforming from a near-dead zone to a design-led hub of excitement and job creation. I love this Art Deco update.

And of course, keeping up the small car theme, Crossley and Webb had a very nice early ’63 Mk 1 Mini..

and a ’69 Lotus Europa S2, it came up to my knees!

Parked opposite the 420G was this pretty Alfa Romeo Spider, perfectly sized for city life. Cape Town does not have the nudge-park culture I have seen in European citys, so the vulnerable nose is less of a worry here.

36 Comments

Thank you; I loved this post. You’ve taken me on a 5 minute trip to a very different and far-away place, once again, and the juxtaposition of that big Jag in its setting is delightful.

I love cities with vernacular architecture and bright colors, unlike the cookie-cutter houses and deadly-boring developments where everything looks the same.

These 420Gs were quite voluptuous; a bit too much so for the market, as it turned out. Undoubtedly it was very much designed for the US market, where Jaguar had enjoyed so much success in the 50s with its big sedans. But the market was changing, and tastes turned towards the lean and boxy look that Mercedes and BMWs espoused.

Nice! I had the same feelings as you toward these beasts in the 70’s, they seemed so ancient, pre-Beetles British compared to the XJs, but nevertheless I’m still enthralled whenever I get to see anything Jaguar from those times.

Yes! Is this the first time a Europa has been in CC? Absolutely my favorite car from age 6 or so, when I got a Matchbox Superfast version.
More generally I love these international car spotting posts. They remind me of just how big – and simutaneously just how small – the world we live in is. Thanks!

Thanks everyone for the positive comments, always much appreciated. Paul, I’m adding this pic as an example of how Cape Town is a mix of old and new, sometimes complimentary.
Alberto, on the cover of my August ’69 Car mag listing the 420G price is a trendy couple having an intimate moment next to their Ford Capri.. she in her white patent boots and striped mini dress, time had moved on!!
Craig, is this really the first Europa on CC? maybe I must go back and take more photos!
Quite honestly I was feeling a bit intimidated even though the sales men were so polite. To get this photo I had to get down on the concrete on my knees and wriggle around..

I should know better than to question CC’s completeness…I just did a site search and it’s not close to the first Europa ( and hopefully not the last!). It seems like 2015 was peak Europa on CC – two posts, plus at least one phot in a car show post.

A really enjoyable essay on a fave car, with some local townscape unknown to this Yankee architect…many thanks. When I was a middle school student the Mark X looked to me like the lovechild of a Bentley and a Hudson Hornet (those ample, curved flanks did it). But now, like Jose D., I see the Mark X / 420 G as a part of the evolution from the Mark VII to the nearly-perfect (visually anyway) XJ6. And the references to the 3.4 liter Mk. 1 and Mk. 2 sedans remind you of the XK-120 coupe. All roads seem to lead back to the XK120, and then beyond it, to some French and even German inspirations:

Hi Johannes, Thanks so much, I guess I always gravitate to colour, and there is a lot of colour in Cape Town if you look.
Thank so much for the heads-up on the Daf, I have always thought they were good looking and ahead of their time. I dont think they were officially sold here but I will look further, dankie hoor!

A small number of DAFs was exported to South Africa. The one above still drove around regularly, it came from Ermelo, 200 km east of Johannesburg.
The letters TAB on its plate stand for Transvaal~Bethal (of course you already knew that…)

The only real external differences were a little more chrome – a thicker bit in the middle of the grille, and a strip running from the headlights to taillights along each side of the car. Inside the dashboard gained a clock and padding along the top. No point messing with perfection! 😉

Thanks … I think the styling was more effective (though still portly) in ’61 or ’62 when first launched as the Mk X. And quite innovative compared to the barely post-war styling of its predescessor. I think I still have my blue Corgi Mk X.

Thanks! Not only for the lovely pics of the car but taking the time to include the neighborhood so we can see some more of this wonderful planet we all share.
I’m not usually so philosophical but those colourful buildings just seemed to bring it out of me!😊

What a lovely post, perfectly balanced splashes of art and information. Though they’re nice, I quite agree that the 420G “may not be Sir William Lyon’s finest”. Like a fat, friendly cat, they seemed to want to rub up to things around them, and every one I’ve ever seen has scraped sides, giving them a faded glory shabbiness from relatively early in their life. And to redouble the effect, they also seemed to fall quickly, scraped perhaps, to their 4th and 5th owners who really couldn’t afford the repairs. The still full-width one in the photos is a bit of a rarity.

Thanks for identifying the Rolls! There was an Armstrong Siddley Sapphire knocking around town some years back in the identical colours. As I couldn’t get to the corner of the showroom I thought it was that car and left it. When I started checking before publishing I realised I was in trouble…

This model was the transition between the really traditional BOF Mark VII through Mark IX, ( these kind of look like old Rolls Royces) to the modern design of the first series XJ6. This was the first unitized construction large sedan built by Jaguar. While it is old fashioned looking to modern eyes, it was a competent handler and good runner with the three carb XK motor, and a four speed was still available. Or you could have had one of these.

Picture of the early Mini reminds me my friends car, made opositely at the end of the production at 1999. After changing the car every 3 months for past few years, going from minivan to suv and hot hatch in between, he felt in love in his little Mini, using it as personal go-cart. Lately he went to Italy passing the Alps via local small roads avoiding highways, to enjoy turning capability of Mini. Despite the cargo on the roof, which you find hard to believe being good for 4 persons 🙂